Say hello to ALN Ventures’ 9 inspiring startups of 2015

Today’s startups. Tomorrow’s leaders.

African Leadership Network (ALN) Ventures has revealed its latest in-take of entrepreneurs for 2015. From Cameroon to Nigeria and South Africa to Kenya, these startups have been whittled down from more than 275 applicants from all over the continent and abroad.

The initiative is designed to find promising entrepreneurs in Africa, and connect them to the power of the African Leadership Network. Specifically, the programme runs startup through mentorship, investment, exclusive access to partner services in the name of accelerating growth.

As reported by TechCabal, ALN Ventures executive director Harish Subramanian said, “Our application campaign was a big success. We attracted highly qualified candidates from a broad range of industries, and from dozens of African countries. Our finalist pool will be the most diverse accelerator class on the continent this year. And these nine promising companies put us well on our way to launching 300 African powerhouses over the coming 15 years.”

In exchange for an expenses-paid nine-month accelerator programme and seed capital of US$20 000, ALN Ventures takes a 5% equity stake in participating companies.

The organisation has partnered with the multinational business and intelligence network, Thomson Reuters, a few months ago in order to provide entrepreneurs tools and support for industry and competitive analysis, legal information, compliance trends, and so on.

Banapads (Uganda) produces inexpensive sanitary napkins from locally plentiful, natural materials in Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi.

Capture (Nigeria) is a mobile payments system that harnesses the power of QR codes to make it quick and easy to safely pay without cash. It sounds a lot like South Africa’s SnapScan.

GiftedMom (Cameroon) is an SMS-based maternal health management solution for hospitals.

Learning Horizon (Nigeria)is a provider of e-learning solutions to corporates and institutions of higher learning.

Madlyn Cazalis (Cameroon) is the first producer of locally-made, all-natural cosmetics in Cameroon.

Medical Devices as a Service (Nigeria) leases medical equipment to hospitals across Nigeria, and the broader West African region.

Nikweli (Tanzania) is a mobile-to-web job-matching platform that connects employers and job seekers for blue-collar type positions.

Stawi Foods (Kenya) produces gluten-free banana flour as well as a variety of nutritious instant porridge flours for children and families.

TastemakersAfrica (USA) is a mobile and web-based travel platform that connects millennials with hip, insider leisure experiences in Africa.